May 2014 - tdwg - lists.tdwg.org

In Memoriam Dr Richard Pankhurst
by Mergen Patricia 14 Dec '15

14 Dec '15

Dear Colleagues, On behalf of TDWG we are very sorry to inform you that Richard John Pankhurst passed away on Tuesday 26 March after fighting oesophageal cancer for many years. He was a very important contributer and friend of TDWG, as can be judged from his short CV from the BioCISE directory: Dr Richard Pankhurst began his career in computing in the computer section at CERN, Geneva in 1963, and moving back to Cambridge to work on Computer-Aided Design in 1966. In 1971 he moved to the Botany School, Cambridge to begin work on his PANKEY programs for identification and key construction. This was continued at the Botany department of the Natural History Museum from 1974 until 1991, where he was for many years curator of the British herbarium, and also worked on the Flora Meso-Americana. "Biological Identification", 1978, was the first textbook on computer methods in identification. A new version of this book was published by C.U.P in 1991. Also published in that year was the Flora of the Outer Hebrides. With over 50 publications of refereed papers and books in the fields of taxonomic computing he has made major contributions to these fields. Dr. Pankhurst has been very active recently in programming and managing botanical databases (Flora Europaea, BSBI database and PANDORA) and systems with images. He was appointed Principal Scientific Officer at the RGB Edinburgh in 1991. Dr. Pankhurst served on various committees of British and international organizations, among others. Botanical Society of the British Isles, Committee for Scotland and Database Committee. Botanical Society of Scotland, Council. Taxonomic Databases Working Group, convener of Descriptors Group. International Organisation for Plant Information, co-convener of Information Systems Committee, Checklist Committee. Dr. Pankhurst was the head of the Department of Taxonomic Computing at RGBE. After his official retirement, he compiled a large database of the Rose family. His work on recording the wild flowers of the Outer Hebrides took him frequently to these remote islands on behalf of the Botanical Society of the British Isles. His interest in Taraxacum (dandelions) was acknowledged when a species found only on St. Kilda was named *Taraxacum pankhurstianum*. In Richard, not only a very important scientist was lost to our community, but also a very pleasant collaborator and friend . <patricia.mergen(a)africamuseum.be> Dr. Patricia Mergen (General Secretary of TDWG, on behalf of the Executive Committee) Head of Biodiversity Information and Cybertaxonomy Royal Museum for Central Africa Leuvensesteenweg 13 B-3080 Tervuren Belgium + 32 2 769 5 *626* patricia.mergen(a)africamuseum.be

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Position Announcement: Collections/Digital Data Manager in Copenhagen
by Kampmeier, Gail E 20 May '14

20 May '14

Posted on behalf of Nikolaj Scharff--please pass this to potential candidates. --Gail --------------------------- Collections Manager/Digital Data Manager to the Natural History Museum of Denmark. The Natural History Museum of Denmark (NHMD) is searching for a Collections Manager/Digital Data Manager to help coordinate and oversee its digital data and head a small Digital Assets Office (digital data from the zoological, botanical, palaeontological, and geological collections). Application deadline: June 15, 2014. About the Natural History Museum of Denmark. The Natural History Museum of Denmark is the Danish national museum for zoology, botany and geology, and it contains large global scientific collections of preserved animals, plants, fossils, and minerals. In its current form the museum was established on January 1, 2004 by the merging of four long-standing institutions: the Botanic Garden, the Botanical Museum & Central Library, the Geological Museum, and the Zoological Museum. Even though the Natural History Museum of Denmark is young, the history of the individual departments and collections can be traced back to the 17th century. A new museum of natural history in the Botanical Garden is being planned (www.nyt.snm.ku.dk/english/) and will present the museum with a number of big challenges in relation to the coming move of the collections, the establishment of new storage facilities and new exhibits. The collection support staff collaborates with the Head of Collections, the scientific curators of the museum and the members of the exhibitions department in the curation of specimens, including preparation, preservation, registration, etc. The collection support staff is organized in a cross-cutting unit under the Head of Collections. The Natural History Museum of Denmark (NHMD) is part of the Faculty of Science at the University of Copenhagen, and therefore host and supervise undergraduate, graduate and PhD students as well as postdocs that use the museum collections for their research. The museum is an international institution with many foreign students and researchers and English is widely used as working language. An increasing part of the collections has been digitized these years, and the museum needs expertise in the field. The museum has therefore established a Digital Assets Office, responsible for the digital archives/collections at NHMD, and for the initiation and coordination of digitization of the collections of NHMD together with other sections at NHMD. Qualification. • MSc in biology, geology, or other relevant background. • good knowledge about IT and experience with databases and digital registration of natural history collections. • Well versed in biodiversity informatics standards and definitions, such as GUID, Darwin Core, ABCD, Linked Open Data etc. (http://www.tdwg.org/). • knowledge about, and preferably hands-on experience with international initiatives within collection based biodiversity informatics. • experience with people management. • good organizing skills and experience with project management and administration. • an interest for museum work. • good language skills, particularly written and spoken English. Additional information. More information about the position can be obtained by contacting the Head of Collections, Nikolaj Scharff (phone: +45 35 32 11 07; e-mail: nscharff(a)snm.ku.dk) or Christian Lange (phone +45 35 32 11 13). More general information about the Natural History Museum of Denmark is available from our website http://snm.ku.dk/english/ Applications. For more details on the position and application procedure see http://snm.ku.dk/english/omsnm/vacancies/collections-manager-digital-data-m… The University of Copenhagen actively influences current and future generations through excellent research, education and co-operation. UCPH is one of the highest ranked universities in Europe and is Denmark’s oldest university, founded in 1479. Today, the University has 37,000 students and 9,000 employees affiliated across six faculties: humanities, law, natural sciences, social sciences, health sciences and theology. www.ku.dk/english/. Best wishes Nikolaj ------------------------------------------------------ Nikolaj Scharff, PhD Director of Collections Professor, Curator of Arachnida Biodiversity Section Natural History Museum of Denmark University of Copenhagen Universitetsparken 15 DK-2100 Copenhagen Denmark Tel. +45 42408088 Email. nscharff(a)snm.ku.dk Webpage: http://snm.ku.dk/people/nscharff ---------------------------------------------------------

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DataOne Users Group Meeting - Copper Mt CO July 6-7, 2014
by Dean Walton 19 May '14

19 May '14

Hi, I think that there are some TDWG members that would have interest in this. The DataOne Users Group (DUG) is meeting this July 6-7, 2014 in Copper Mountain, CO. Here is a chance to learn more about DataOne, show off your current research in data management, and learn about the Data Management Toolkit (DMT). http://www.dataone.org/dataone-users-group Sincerely, Dean __________________________________ Dean Walton, PhD Science Librarian/Associate Professor University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403 (541) 346-2871

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Job opportunity: Ecoinformaticist with the National Agricultural Library
by Simpson, Annie 08 May '14

08 May '14

NAL, the USDA National Agricultural Library seeks an experienced Ecoinformaticist for its Knowledge Services Division. The individual will play a leading role in shaping programs to support the informatics and data management needs of the Long Term Agro-Ecosystem Research Initiative. Key functions of the position include: establishing metadata and data format standards; developing and implementing data management plans for national datasets; enabling data interoperability through the implementation of ontologies and semantic technologies; developing, designing, and implementing spatial data management systems and a spatial data infrastructure. The position is posted on USAJobs.gov opening on Friday, May 9 and closing on Thursday, May 22, 2014. This is a Term appointment for 13 months with the possibility of extension up to four years. NAL is located in Beltsville, Maryland.

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